A small video I shot with the Kodak HD digicam while JBQ had climbed up to shoot the drummer from above (no way I could climb up there myself). You can clearly hear the song playing back really fast at 125%.

Here it is, my first music video clip. This is the best I could do with the amount of footage I had in my disposal (I shot only 2/3s of a tape as we were there for less than two hours). Comment, view in HD, or download the high quality HD version of the video here. Read all about it, including which tools I used, on my detailing article at OSNews.

A big thanks to the band, and a special thanks to my JBQ for helping us all out.

The HV20/30 is one of the best pieces of personal property one can own. It just does the job so well for the little money it costs that it makes no sense to not own one. Sure it’s still tape, but it’s as close to prosumer quality than you can get today for the price.

Latest example is the excellent work of Blake Monahan for the band “House of Fire“. He shot with the HV20 the music video clip for their (very nice) song “Walking along the sun“.

Big day tomorrow! I waited 8 months for it, to find a band that I both like, and they would like me to shoot a music video clip for them. So tomorrow, I will be shooting my first music video clip. I can’t wait!

The indie band is a Bay Area native one, they are called HIJK, and they rock! Download some of their songs for free here or buy their album on iTunes. The band already has a video for their first single out of their “The Pen and letter” album, called “Paper boat” (also a free download). They filmed it themselves, and edited it very nicely together. Very creative! Tomorrow, we will be shooting a video for the song “Alibi”. My idea for the video is a more conservative “alt.rock music clip”, which will hopefully pan out ok as I don’t have a 35mm adapter yet (I expect one in a few weeks) and I have not even seen the shooting place yet. I will have to improvise immediately tomorrow after I arrive at the set.

These are the tools that I will have with me tomorrow to materialize the shoot: an audio CD that has the song “Alibi” recorded spent up 125%, a CD player, a camera bag, the Canon HV20 camera, 2 camera batteries fully charged, our new lights, our deflector, my shoulder bracket, my tripod, my steadycam, my WD-H43 wide-angle lens, my 43-to-52mm step-up ring, polarizer/ND/contrast filters, my HDTV-fx Tiffen film-look filter, lens cleanser and brush, 3-4 tapes, our white balance gray card, a Kodak digicam for tests, and a hat (as we will also be shooting outdoors).

Wish me luck! I will need it as I will be shooting “blind”.

This just in. For the sequel of “Crank“, titled “Crank: High Voltage“, the director is not using the RED cameras that he already used on his previous movie. He’s going even lower in price. He will be using a number of XH-A1s and HF10s from Canon. The HF10 is a $900 AVCHD consumer camera (a bit worse in quality than the HV20). The idea is to use these cameras in places where the big Hollywood cameras just don’t fit, or if they do, they fit after a lot of work of re-arranging the set.

To the directors: good luck removing the pulldown out of the HF10. It will piss your editors off.

I was watching “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” tonight, and there is almost no background blur in the movie. At least, not more than the HV20 can deliver without any extra 35mm adapters. The magic is all in the color (easily reproduced with Cinemode/Neutral, and color grading), lighting (that’s where your money should go), and composition (only your artistic genes can help you here). I don’t think the camera they used had much more dynamic range than the HV20 either. The lack of background blur didn’t stop the movie to be voted the 4th best movie of all times on IMDb.

Last year there were a number of focus rings hacked together by enthusiasts to deal with the HV20’s flimsy focus roller button. The rings required quite some work to construct and it was adding to the bulk of the camera. Well, not anymore. The following solution is ingenious. It’s simple, cheap, easy, fast, and takes no space. HD version here.

Also check my friend’s Jay videos on how to pan smoothly with a fluid-head tripod and how to construct a dolly track.

I used to be against the use of the “Cinemode” mode that is found on the Canon HD cameras. Truth is, it clips the dark areas pretty bad, and it’s too soft. However, having worked with it for a few months now, it’s true that it provides a much better color response.

People usually don’t like cinemode because it looks too dull, it’s not sharp and it has low contrast. However, Cinemode is not meant to be used as is. It is MEANT to be color graded. Look at my bad-hair-day frames below, as shot, and after having been color graded. As shot the “auto mode” provides a more pleasant look, but after having color graded, cinemode looks fantastic: look how more natural the colors are! I used unsharpen mask with a large radius to fix the contrast and sharpen issues, bumped saturation a little bit, reduced gamma, and using “Curves” I bumped the the dark areas a bit too.

Sure it still looks like video, but it looks less of it. So, if you are after the movie look, always shoot with Cinemode and the “neutral” color setting. The duller the picture is when shot, the better color grading response it has on post which will help you achieve that movie look.

JBQ theorized that CSI:Miami might be shot in Velvia-like filmstock. Interesting theory. If that’s true it means that the only camera that can simulate that look is a RED-class one. Not possible with cameras like the HV20.